A Day at Bell Liberty
by paintedpinkpuffs
Summary: Trouble and mix-ups abound at Bell Liberty High, a high-class boarding school. A day in the life for a bunch of students who can't help tripping over each other. AU. Mainly characters from Naruto, Gakuen Heaven, Prince of Tennis.
1. Neji

A/N: Hi everybody. So this is my new story - it's an AU based mostly on Naruto, but there are characters from other series in here, too, like Prince of Tennis, Gakuen Heaven and a couple others. Sorry if that's confusing.

The setting is a high-class private boarding school, Bell Liberty Junior and Senior High School. Everybody in the school lives in one of three dorms, which are called Bluebell, Snapdragon and Daisy. The story sort of moves through a lot of different characters' perspectives to show all the different sides of a big mess that took place one day at Bell Liberty. The first chapter is Neji's - and he's head of Bluebell dorm, which is for people who are nice and try hard.

Warnings: AU. Possibly OOC. Some pairings will come up, including Sasuke x Naruto, Achilles x Neji, Shikamaru x Temari and others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter 1** **- Neji**

Neji had a lot of duties as the head of Bluebell dorm. Some of them were more glamorous than others. Not that that made any difference, of course, in the care he took with his responsibilities—duty was duty and Neji, at least, understood that, though he sometimes wondered if the same could be said of anyone else.

Choosing horses for the members of his dorm before riding lessons commenced tomorrow was one of his less glamorous jobs. Especially because it was raining and the stables smelled like something Neji didn't want to think about, and the mud from his walk over had gotten onto his shoes. But not everyone in Bluebell had had the foresight to bring their own Icelandic pony to school, as Neji had—although of course there was plenty of room in the Bell Liberty stables, if any of his classmates _had_ wanted to board their horses here—and since he knew for a fact that no one else was going to take it upon themselves to advise horses for the students who were without, Neji would do it himself.

The stable was empty, except for the horses, of course; his footsteps echoed down the long lane in front of him, hushed by the rain falling on the roof over his head. Neji stopped before an unremarkable thoroughbred, rolling his eyes and pushing his damp hair way from his neck. Oh, he had offered that anyone who wanted help picking out their horse could come along with him to the stables. He'd even gone so far as to _suggest_ that the leaders of the other two dorms might want to come along as well, for the sake of the students in their houses.

He'd gotten no response worth mentioning. Shikamaru had given him a shrug that as likely meant he had already worked something out as he didn't care one iota how the whole thing went down, or a mix of the two, perhaps—it was hard to tell with Shikamaru sometimes. And Achilles—oh, that Achilles, who might have been willing to accompany Neji if it hadn't been for the fact that he was waiting, just then, for a certain _relative_ of his scheduled to visit that afternoon—Achilles had suggested that Neji just let it alone and wait for tomorrow, with a characteristic smirk that Neji just _knew_ meant the Snapdragons would be running around unsupervised tomorrow, as usual—why had he expected anything else? Achilles would probably let them choose whatever horses they wanted, without paying the least attention to whether they suited each other or not.

Choosing a horse was an art, after all. How long had it taken Neji to find the perfect pony?

Neji shivered a little as he walked down the line of stalls, wishing he had brought his shawl with him instead of his flimsy though well-designed jacket. He wouldn't have called the stable lonely, exactly, but all the same he wouldn't have minded a little company; it was a shame he hadn't been able to catch Naruto before making his way outside. Neji really did his best to keep tabs on the most troublesome member of his dorm, but it was hard when he was always sneaking off with one bad influence or another…

Neji paused to peer in at one of the horses, fingering the name cards he had brought with him. Each of the stalls he passed featured a plaque with the horse's name, and the owner's name, if it had one—he was surprised to see how few of them actually belonged to anyone besides the school. There were a few Urakawa horses, and a few Keigos, and a couple others—but all in all, most of the animals belonged to Bell Liberty. Neji shook his head. No Hyuuga would _ever_ stand in such bad taste as to ride a school horse, he knew—and a few of the better families, families like the Winthrops and the Itos, really should have had one or two on the premises.

Well, forget the Itos. When had that family ever played by the rules?

Neji sighed to himself, annoyed in a background way with the Itos and annoyed more immediately with how many cards he still had left in his hand. A few of the choices had been easier—Atalantia and Psyche had grace, at least, even if Neji couldn't speak to their experience, and Kiba he had simply assigned to a fairly normal creature, insofar as 'normal' described any of the horses in the Bell Liberty stable. But there was one name card in his hand that he could not throw so casually.

It was Naruto's, of course. Neji was almost positive Naruto hadn't been well off enough to even _see_ a horse before coming to Bell Liberty—or if he had done any riding, it was undoubtedly of that awful Western variety, where cowboy hats took the place of helmets and the riders slouched in their saddles like half-dead fish. Neji could just picture that. He swallowed a sigh of disgust as he neared the end of the row. He wanted Naruto's first experience with _real_ riding to be a success—and for that to happen, he couldn't just find a horse of the right size, or one with which the orange nightmare that was Naruto's wardrobe would not combine to murder the eyes of unsuspecting passersby. He needed to find a better horse than that—a horse that matched Naruto's soul.

Neji reached the end of the row and turned to head back, his shoulders slumping a little as he seemed to have run out of options. Then he glanced into the last stall and stopped. The horse inside was fourteen or fifteen hands high and a sort of chestnut color—but what had caught Neji's attention was that the horse appeared to have gotten its head stuck in its water bucket.

The horse was shaking its neck uselessly back and forth, stumbling blind around its stall with an indignity Neji wasn't sure he'd ever seen on a horse before. One of the animal's hind legs hit the wall and its knees buckled in response. It fell back onto its haunches in surprise—surprise that became more evident when the jolt knocked the bucket loose from its head and sent it skittering across the stall.

Neji blinked at the horse. It seemed to blink back at him. Then it rose and twitched its tail, glancing for a moment from side to side as though searching for an explanation as to what had just happened. Then it shook itself—and with the shake, all its preoccupation seemed to disappear, and it whickered agreeably, ambling toward the gate to see if Neji had anything worth eating.

Neji stuck Naruto's name card on the gate's crossbar and walked away, a little smile on his face.


	2. Achilles

A/N: This story is an AU based mostly on Naruto, but there are characters from other series in here, too, like Prince of Tennis, Gakuen Heaven and a couple others. The setting is a high-class private boarding school, Bell Liberty Junior and Senior High School. The story sort of moves through a lot of different characters' perspectives to show all the different sides of a big mess that took place one day at Bell Liberty.

The second chapter is from the point of view of Ito Achilles, a relative of Ito Keita's. He's the head of the Snapdragon dorm, which is kind of like Slytherin, but less evil.

Warnings: AU. Possibly OOC. Some pairings will come up, including Sasuke x Naruto, Achilles x Neji, Shikamaru x Temari and others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter 2 - Achilles**

Achilles tapped his fingers impatiently against the glass of the window pane tracing the dark rivulets that streamed endlessly down the other side as he was forced to partake in one of his least favorite pastimes—talking to Shikamaru. It wasn't that the Daisy representative was stupid, just dull and Achilles was usually bored by the time he got through saying good morning to the other boy.

"So, when you say you saw him go out toward the stables awhile ago…how long are we talking?" Achilles asked carefully trying to somehow funnel Shikamaru's answer toward something specific. The storm going on outside had taken a turn for the worse about 10 minutes ago, and after watching Neji's favorite Bluebell track water in through the front hall completely soaked with no proper raincoat on Achilles had begun to wonder where it's Mother had gotten off, too.

"Well…um…" Shikamaru's eyes were fixed on the darkening window behind the Snapdragon, his arms hanging uselessly at his sides and his head caulked to one side with the great effort that this must be taking him.

"Well how long?" Achilles prompted again. He had grown bored even of tapping his fingerers impatiently against the glass, pushing off from the windowsill and facing Shikamaru with crossed arms, revealing finally some of the temper that he was beginning to feel. This was why he had told Neji to just leave it for tomorrow—or better yet leave it to the Bluebells to take care of themselves—but no. Neji's dorm was his baby and he couldn't leave it alone for 5 freaking seconds to consider the weather or the position that he was putting Achilles in either.

"Yeah…" Shikamaru finished finally, "It was…awhile ago." The blond Ito willed himself not to be angry and to keep smiling through sheer force of will. The Naras' loose relationship with time was legendary and no amount of physical intervention would cure the problem. Besides he had more important things to do right now.

"Alright—I'll be sure to show my thanks then," Achilles offered with a smile not waiting for the other dorm head to start forming the laboriously long goodbye in his defective brain. He would show his thanks by having Dmitri stay home sick tomorrow—and specially allowing Temari to take a partner from the Daisy House. It was two birds with one stone really since Temari would never pass up the chance to torture Shikamaru with her particular strange brand of worship. It could even be considered 3 birds with one stone if you added bossing Dmitri around as a bonus.

It pleased Achilles all the way until he got to the building's entrance, and was forcibly reminded of the unnecessary trek he was being forced to make as he slipped on his long dark blue raincoat—buttoning the front slowly and clasping it at the waist. The wind had kicked up enough that there probably wasn't much point in trying to bring an umbrella. The tall black boots that the Ito slipped into would keep his feet dry but everything else was going to get wet. Achilles opened the door cautiously, feeling the first gusts of the storm as a smattering of fat drops hit his face and pattered against his coat, and the wind teased the material of the long jacket to flutter out behind him.

Achilles stared back up at the storm with angry blue eyes, moving purposefully toward the stable. In the first place, why was the head of Bluebell out here alone picking horses for his house? When the pretty boy had come calling on Achilles with his lecture about picking out the proper animal for each rider, the blond haired Ito had engaged in a quiet fantasy about exactly what people like Akutsu, Temari, and Hiroshi would do if he tried to pick out a horse and assign it to them, and just let Neji talk. It had been relaxing and brought a smile to his face.

Neji was pretty when he was worked up—speaking animatedly with his hands and waving that favored pointer finger in the other boy's face. His cheeks took on a red tinge too when he was really annoyed, and sometimes Achilles purposefully disagreed with the Bluebell Head just to see that reaction. Neji didn't even seem to realize though, that if it had been anyone else Achilles wouldn't even have stayed to the end of the lecture, much less stayed quiet.

The dark sky rumbled angrily above only seconds after the entire sky was lit for a moment with a streak of white lightening. Achilles hurried on seeing his objective finally in the distance. Water was dripping down the blond boy's face, and the blond Ito was forced to lift his arm to shield his vision from the torrent as the wind changed direction whipping the falling drops straight into his face. The Snapdragon felt his mood darkening right along with the sky. When Neji had said he was going out to pick horses Achilles had assumed that Bluebell's Mommy had intended to bring all her children with her and lord it over them as they were forced to make formal and possibly even written greetings to whatever hapless pony Neji had decided suited them best. He wasn't supposed to be out here alone in the middle of a storm!

The blond had reached the stable finally pulling the sturdy wooden door with its cheery blue design open just far enough to slip in before closing it firmly behind him. His body temperature began to rise immediately just being out of the wind, and the warm stables suddenly didn't seem like such a very bad place anymore as he looked around the well lit and cared for common areas. The insulation on the building was good too, the blond could barely hear the raging of the winds, if Neji was still here he probably hadn't even noticed the storm that had kicked up outside.

It didn't take Achilles long to find what he was looking for—the Bluebell head was the only other person in the stable after all and the long dark haired boy was humming quietly to himself as he rubbed down one particular pure white pony with a brush—the name plaque on the door said the lucky creature was named Beatrix and owned by the Hyuuga Family. Neji's back was to the Snapdragon his loose hair swaying as he moved, rhythmically brushing to the strains of that "Kiss Me" song that Gwen was always playing, as he hummed it quietly. Achilles felt that smile creeping onto his face again.

"So this is that pony that you're so proud of," the blond Ito stated after a moment crossing his arms and tossing his head toward the creature. Neji whirled around in surprise at the voice making the white horse at his side stamp and whicker nervously.

"Achilles!" the pretty black haired boy accused—his cheeks were burning with spots of red that just made the Snapdragon Head smile wider. "How long have you been standing there?" the Bluebell demanded, settling a comforting hand to settle the pony at his side.

"Long enough to enjoy a free concert," Achilles teased keeping his head tossed into the air as he looked down at the fuming boy in the stable in front of him. Neji's cheeks were even redder now, but the embarrassment in his face had quickly lost out to anger, just as the Snapdragon Head had known it would, and that favored pointer finger came to fix right at him again.

"What did you come here for?" Neji demanded. He had even left off brushing the precious Icelandic Pony in order to direct the full extent of his emotion at Achilles and that was how the Ito liked it best.

"Didn't you say you'd help anyone who came to the stable to pick out their horse Neji?" Achilles questioned meeting those passionate eyes with his own taunting blue, "I'm here to pick out a horse."


	3. Sasuke

A/N: This story is an AU based mostly on Naruto, but there are characters from other series in here, too, like Prince of Tennis, Gakuen Heaven and a couple others. The setting is a high-class private boarding school, Bell Liberty Junior and Senior High School. The story sort of moves through a lot of different characters' perspectives to show all the different sides of a big mess that took place one day at Bell Liberty.

The third chapter is from the point of view of Sasuke, a member of Snapdragon dorm. In this story he has two older brothers; Izumi is the oldest of them, and Sasuke is the youngest.

Warnings: AU. Possibly OOC. Some pairings will come up, including Sasuke x Naruto, Achilles x Neji, Shikamaru x Temari and others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter 3 - Sasuke**

Sasuke ducked his head under the onslaught of the rain and jogged across the Bell Liberty lawn in the direction of the dorm, his vision blurred and all but useless through the torrential spring storm. The sidewalk had given way to a system of interconnected puddles, and Sasuke gritted his teeth as the water flooded his tennis shoes, giving up any concept of keeping himself dry and simply making for the dorm as quickly as he could.

It hadn't been raining early in the afternoon, or even looked like it was going to rain, which was why Sasuke had only a windbreaker and Naruto hadn't brought a coat of any kind along on their sudden shopping trip—sudden because Naruto had grabbed his arm shortly after lunch and dragged him toward the parking lot, as insistent that they had to go shopping right that moment as he was determined not to tell Sasuke what he needed to buy. Sasuke had a paper to write and _no_ had been on the edge of his lips, right up until Achilles, who always seemed to be walking by at the most inopportune times, had consented to let them out of the dorm if Sasuke would pick up something for him in town.

Sasuke wondered why the Snapdragon head hadn't just said _fetch_.

With a last splatter of waterlogged steps, Sasuke made it to the porch; he stepped under the overhanging roof and allowed himself a sigh, wiping his sopping black hair away from his face. The storm was still getting worse—even as he watched, lightning lit the sky from one horizon to the other—and he was glad he'd at least had the forethought to drop off Naruto and Achilles' baggage (wrapped in plastic, thank God) as close to the dorm as possible before going to park the car. Naruto would have gotten wet, but at least he hadn't been out in the worst of the storm.

Sasuke wrung the bottom of his shirt out over the porch floor, his eyes dark with the storm alone. He didn't really mind last-minute shopping with Naruto—not because he had any fondness for shopping, but because Naruto made shopping bearable. Naruto made most things bearable. Even today, when Naruto had been adamant that Sasuke stay outside of the stores he visited and had held the bag of his purchases stubbornly behind his back while they walked the length of the mall, the blond boy had a ready smile and an easy laugh, and he didn't mind sharing them with Sasuke. Sasuke liked that smile. He didn't really mind an unplanned outing, even in this weather, if that smile came with it.

Achilles he minded a little.

With a last shake of his head, wiping his soaked hands against equally soaking pants, Sasuke made his way into the dorm, one more pair of footprints tracking water into the front hall. Considering Achilles, the best thing to do was probably to find him and deliver his package as quickly as possible, so that the head of Snapdragon would be off Sasuke's back for the rest of the day. The package was with Naruto, who had probably run for a change of clothes—not a bad idea, Sasuke decided, glancing down at his sopping shirt before setting off down the hallway.

The dorm was much warmer than it had been outside, and much quieter, too; everyone seemed to be eschewing the common room that afternoon, except for one spiky ponytail protruding over the back of the sofa. Sasuke rubbed his thawing fingers together and made his way toward Shikamaru, who glanced up at his approach with an expression that was either absolute boredom or carefully veiled annoyance. Sasuke could never really tell what was going on in Shikamaru's head.

"Hey… Sasuke…" Shikamaru greeted in his typical lethargic way, his mouth coming open again as though he might add another word or two to his salutation. Sasuke decided to speak before he got started.

"Shikamaru. Have you seen Achilles?"

He would need to get the teddy bear—because it was a golden-brown teddy bear Achilles had sent him to town to retrieve—back from Naruto before anything else, but Naruto's whereabouts were easy enough to guess. Not always so with Achilles. What Achilles needed with a teddy bear—when Sasuke knew for a fact that Neji already _had_ a teddy bear, thank you—he really didn't know. He didn't care much, either, as long as it was out of his hands in a short span of time.

A short span of time was about how long it took Shikamaru to answer. "Sure," the Daisy said at last, a glacial shrug rolling through his shoulders. Sasuke fought down his passing irritation.

"Do you know where he is?" the youngest Uchiha asked, glancing out the window as another flash of lightning hit the sky. Shikamaru scratched his ear.

"Probably… he would be… still with Neji," Shikamaru decided, nodding to himself.

Sasuke rubbed his temples against an oncoming headache. "And where's Neji?"

"Well…" Shikamaru sunk into a considering silence, the kind of silence that always made Sasuke think he would lose his mind before the Daisy head managed to answer. "He was… out… at the stables. A while ago."

Sasuke wondered what the hell Neji would be doing at the stables in this weather. He had the wisdom not to ask. "Thanks," he said instead, heading back toward the Snapdragon wing with a shake of his head. He had been talking to Shikamaru so long that his clothes had probably dried on their own—all the same, changing was still on his priority list, as was grabbing a real raincoat before going back outside to find out what Neji and Achilles were up to in the stables.

Change, find Naruto, find Achilles. Write his paper.

Or at least that was the plan until he came within sight of his bedroom door. His bedroom door which was sandwiched between Kirihara's and, more importantly, Achilles', presenting him at that moment a clear view of the figure waiting outside of Achilles' door, tugging with one hand on the braided pigtail of his deep red hair and worrying his lip between his teeth. Sasuke stopped. Then he pushed his hair back out of his face and brushed the wrinkles from his shirt as well as he could, clearing his throat to catch the figure's attention.

"Keita? What are you doing here?"

Ito Keita turned around at his voice, and though his face lit up there was no denying the glimmer of tears still lurking in those big blue eyes. Sasuke resisted the urge to put his head in his hands. He was never going to get that paper done.


	4. Naruto

A/N: This story is an AU based mostly on Naruto, but there are characters from other series in here, too, like Prince of Tennis, Gakuen Heaven and a couple others. The setting is a high-class private boarding school, Bell Liberty Junior and Senior High School. The story sort of moves through a lot of different characters' perspectives to show all the different sides of a big mess that took place one day at Bell Liberty.

The fourth chapter is from the point of view of Naruto, a member of Bluebell dorm. Atalantia and Psyche Ito, who show up in this chapter, are Achilles' sisters.

Warnings: AU. Possibly OOC. Some pairings will come up, including Sasuke x Naruto, Achilles x Neji, Shikamaru x Temari and others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter 4 - Naruto**

Naruto dug into his pocket with one hand fishing for the key to Sasuke's room while shaking errant water droplets from his hair with other. The flecks of rain splashed against the mahogany door and slid down the white board that hung there but there was nothing to erase. Sasuke had never even bothered to write his own name on the front of his door this year and he was so unpopular nobody ever left him messages either—maybe Naruto would just have to start drawing on it again~ The thought made him smile even as he fitted his illegally copied key into the lock and gave his head one last shake for good measure.

"Oi Sasuke!" the boy called out as he pushed the door in. He'd bothered to change into his orange sweats but hadn't wanted to waste any time with a shower—he had things to talk to his black haired buddy about after all.

"Oi Sasuke," Naruto repeated glancing around the room, it was neat-neat-neat as always with books alphabetized on the shelf, papers organized on the desk and bed made up like it was done by a cleaning service. There was no Sasuke though, but as the blond haired boy closed the door behind him he heard the sound of the shower running from the bathroom. Naruto had thought for sure that Sasuke was going to run and find Achilles first thing, but whatever~ If he was here already that made things easier.

Today had been a colossal waste of time. Naruto thumbed through the papers on the desk idly before making his way over to the mini-fridge. The boy's nose crinkled up as he looked over Sasuke's poor selection before he finally pulled out a lemon-lime sparkling water and flopped down on the bed making it bounce up and down on its springs. It wasn't that it hadn't been fun to go shopping with Sasuke, everything was always more fun with Sasuke, it was just that today's real goal had been a total, total failure. It was tempting to blame Sasuke, because it was Sasuke who hadn't reacted like he was supposed to, but right from the get-go Naruto had had some doubts about this plan anyways. It was just that Sasuke was so thick sometimes! Naruto pawed through the drawers next to the bed aimlessly letting his cheeks puff out with irritation. The most interesting thing he found was a grocery list that told him that Sasuke used Green Tea flavored tooth paste—which was somewhat disgusting. Abandoning the list on the bed Naruto rolled over onto his back giving the door to the bathroom a sideways glance in the process.

He had told Atalantia and Psyche about the problem with Sasuke, because they always seemed to have no trouble getting into relationships—Psyche particularly. You couldn't walk four feet down the Bell Liberty hallways without running into someone that Psyche had dated, and if you threw a rock into a crowd there was a one in three chance you'd hit somebody that had a crush on Atalantia. Sasuke was really unpopular so competition was not an issue; hence the blond boy had thought it would be easy to get the other boy to notice him. Heck, on most Sundays, Naruto was the only person Sasuke saw at all, but no matter how many times the Uzumaki had asked the black haired boy out—and no matter where to for that matter—Sasuke just mushed along like business as usual!

A month ago, they had been out in a boat shaped like a bird, on a lake with only couples sporting dreamy expressions and one off-kilter rowboat in the corner whose occupants looked suspiciously like Temari and Shikamaru. And Sasuke hadn't even blinked—not when Naruto asked him to go to the bird boat pond—not when they squeezed together into the seat with the heart-shaped back that their swan sported, and not even when Naruto climbed halfway into his lap to take over the steering—but admittedly that was because Temari was rowing Shikamaru around like she owned the whole lake!

The point was Sasuke seemed to be completely clueless—like today. Acting on Atalantia and Psyche's advice he had dragged Sasuke out shopping, purposefully bought couple-like stuff (he judged whether or not it was a good purchase based on whether he had seen a similar item in Neji's room before), and then hid it temptingly from his companion. The twins had assured him that this would draw attention to the purchases and that Sasuke would be forced to take interest in them and their implication. It had seemed like pretty sound advice to Naruto at the time—after all who would purposefully drag someone along shopping against their will and then make a show of hiding what they bought? If you really wanted to buy a secret present for someone then you just wouldn't bring them along in the first place, and if you were up to no good you wouldn't bring anyone along at all…

But as usual Sasuke didn't seem to give it any particular thought and even carried one of the bags for Naruto for awhile without ever once trying figure out what was inside! The blond hair boy was over this subtle crap, he was just going to talk to Sasuke straight up—get his attention and then—Pow!—just lay it on him. Naruto threw a haymaker into the air for emphasis making the springs of the bed squeak under him again, before rolling back into a sitting position.

Jeez!—was the black haired boy ever taking a long shower today! The blond Uzumaki felt restless now that he had decided what to do, and found himself delving back into the drawers of the bedside table digging deeper until his hands finally met something metal that made his entire face light up with a grin. He wasn't really surprised, Sasuke was an Uchiha after all and had practically grown up in the police force, but he hadn't really expected to find a pair of handcuffs in the boy's drawers. Handcuffs were probably contraband too~

They were shiny and new, but they felt real and as Naruto spun his spectacular find around by a finger a brilliant idea came to him. If Sasuke was too blank to pick up on regular signals, he'd just do something so obvious the other boy would have no way to ignore it. The silver handcuffs kept turning round and round in the blond boy's hand as he crept slowly toward the bathroom door listening to the sound of the water. His timing was perfect, the hum of the shower slowing to a single drip even as Naruto stilled the handcuffs between his fingers and then yanked them open. The glass door in the room beyond him slid in its tracks and Naruto stifled a laugh as he fixed the silver handcuff around his left wrist good and tight~

It wasn't going to be easy to catch the Uchiha off guard, but if anyone could do it, it was Naruto. The blond held his breath as wet footsteps padded their way toward him. He was only going to have one chance at this because the minute Sasuke saw him it would be too late. The blond held the other end of the handcuff open and ready to strike.

The footsteps stalled for a moment—possibly at the mirror making Naruto roll his eyes, but then resumed their path to the door. The Uzumaki felt his heart pumping excitedly in his chest as he pushed his back up against the wall and waited. The sound of the doorknob turning was his cue. Naruto didn't even wait for the door to open, it would be far too late by that point given the Uchiha's reflexes—instead he darted forward reaching his hand through the slight opening and slapping the open end of the handcuffs around the wrist attached the doorknob!

"I gotcha!" the blond haired boy declared excitedly, "Surprised?"

Naruto threw the door the rest of the way open triumphantly raising their handcuffed hands into the air victoriously and then froze… Surprise was the right word after all, and the Uzumaki wasn't really sure who was more surprised at that moment. Himself standing there handcuffed to someone that was not Sasuke who had just come out of the black haired boy's shower, or Ito Keita who looked like a fawn in the highbeams of an oncoming hummer with wet hair and only a fluffy white towel tied around himself like a dress—and at that moment Naruto wished more than anything in the world that he had also found the key to these handcuffs.


	5. Shikamaru

A/N: This story is an AU based mostly on Naruto, but there are characters from other series in here, too, like Prince of Tennis, Gakuen Heaven and a couple others. The setting is a high-class private boarding school, Bell Liberty Junior and Senior High School. The story sort of moves through a lot of different characters' perspectives to show all the different sides of a big mess that took place one day at Bell Liberty.

The fifth chapter is from the point of view of Shikamaru, the head of Daisy dorm. Daisy is for people who are a little strange but fairly independent. Kirihara, who sort of appears in this chapter, is from Prince of Tennis.

Warnings: AU. Possibly OOC. Some pairings will come up, including Sasuke x Naruto, Achilles x Neji, Shikamaru x Temari and others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter 5 - Shikamaru**

Shikamaru ran a very slow hand through the scruff of his ponytail, one eye half veiled as he stared up at the somewhat dubious figures standing beside his couch.

"So let me… get this… straight," Shikamaru began again, scratching his chin. "Keita is here today… looking for… Achilles…"

Today was turning out to be one of those days. Shikamaru wasn't overly fond of those days. Well, normally he didn't much care what kind of a day it was. Except on those days. Those days when everybody was running around like it was going out of style. Yep. Shikamaru was sure he liked the other days better than those days.

Naruto, who was shifting from foot to foot the way he always seemed to be when Shikamaru saw him, cut into his explanation. "That's not the important part! The important part is—" Then the blond-haired boy began to talk so fast that Shikamaru really couldn't make out more than a few words, which didn't surprise him—he never could when Naruto really got going. He caught the names 'Sasuke' and 'Achilles' and considered rolling his eyes, but it was too much effort. As though he wouldn't have thought of Sasuke and Achilles immediately on being presented with this pair handcuffed together.

Naruto's voice had passed the speed of sound, or so it seemed to Shikamaru. The boy had his hands on his hips, as well as he could when his left wrist was chained to Keita's. Keita just looked at Shikamaru with eyes the Daisy head thought he had seen on a lost poodle once, as though his comprehension of the whole situation was so slim that all he really wanted was a pat on the head. Shikamaru considered that. In the end, the little Ito was too far away; Shikamaru sunk back into the pillows and cleared his throat, stopping Naruto's quicksilver tongue with the little sound.

"So Keita… you were in the shower… because… you got stuck in the rain… maybe?"

Keita blinked at him with wide blue eyes, nodding under the long tendrils of red hair that were still wet where they hung around his face. Shikamaru nodded back, his gaze following the line of Keita's right sleeve—the sleeve of a white button-down about two sizes too big for him, with the buttons all askew in the front. And a bunch of safety pins holding the sleeve together.

Shikamaru tipped his head to the side, regarding the pair with waning interest. "Is that… Sasuke's… shirt?"

Naruto gaped at him for a second with his mouth open, which suited Shikamaru just fine—things were usually quieter when Naruto was surprised. Well, until they weren't anymore. Like now.

"Dude, this is not the time! Are you even listening to me? We've got to find him and get these things off. So do you know where he is?"

Shikamaru decided this was the last time he hung out in the common room. Temari had a make-up test until… yeah, it was definitely… a while from now, so he'd thought he'd just park it where she was bound to run into him and wait it out, since Temari had wanted his afternoon and running from Temari never got him anything. He'd have made a different decision if he'd known that waiting it out meant being some kind of GPS tracking system on legs. Well, on couch. The head of Daisy dorm glanced the pair over again, his gaze shifting from Naruto's impatient eyes to the shirt that had obviously been cut open and then pinned back onto Keita. And buttoned wrong. But then, buttons would probably be pretty hard to do handcuffed, Shikamaru reflected.

"Yeah… Sasuke…" Sasuke had been looking for Achilles—who knew why—and Achilles had been looking for Neji—that one was easier—and Neji had been heading to the stables maybe about… some time before. Of course, there was just as good a chance that Sasuke had gone to call his brother or something as that he'd gone after Achilles, but Shikamaru really only liked to speculate so far. The brown-haired boy nodded languidly. "As for that… Neji was—"

As usual, Naruto didn't let him finish. "Neji? Are you crazy, Shikamaru? Neji's the last thing I need! Or Achilles either! Just Sasuke. Did you see him?"

Shikamaru picked a splotch of lint off of his cuff. "You know… I think Sasuke… really liked that shirt…"

Naruto's expression told him the boy had reached an internal boil—that, or the time limit was up on his patience. Both sounded likely. "Ah, forget it! I've got a better idea," Naruto said, running for the hallway to the Snapdragon wing and dragging Keita mindlessly behind him. "Look, just—if you see Sasuke, tell him we'll be in Kirihara's room. And if you see Neji, don't tell him anything! Achilles either!"

"Bye, Shikamaru!" Keita called over his shoulder, the first words Shikamaru had heard out of the usually cheerful but undeniably empty-headed young man's mouth. Shikamaru just shook his head. He could guess well enough why Naruto was off to Kirihara's room. He couldn't guess so well how Kirihara was going to take that.

Shikamaru laid his head against the back of the couch and stared up at the ceiling, wondering when and why life had gotten so complicated. In the end he decided it was because there were so many complicated people in his life now—like Neji and Achilles, who radiated temper of one kind or another all the time, or like Sasuke and Naruto, who never could seem to stay out of trouble. Or like Temari, who was stalking in his direction down the hallway—not her angry stalk, though, just the normal one…

Or like the person getting out of the black car that he could see pulling up outside the dorm—a car that had been allowed to drive all the way up to the dorm due to nothing but the importance of said person, who was running for the door and getting soaked to the bone.

Shikamaru shook his head. Yep. Definitely one of those days.


	6. Kazumi

A/N: This story is an AU based mostly on Naruto, but there are characters from other series in here, too, like Prince of Tennis, Gakuen Heaven and a couple others. The setting is a high-class private boarding school, Bell Liberty Junior and Senior High School. The story sort of moves through a lot of different characters' perspectives to show all the different sides of a big mess that took place one day at Bell Liberty.

The sixth chapter is from the point of view of Kazumi Yoshinaga, a member of Bluebell dorm. Kazumi is originally from the Gargoyle of the Yoshinagas series. His older brother, Inori, is from Harukanaru Toki ni Naka de. Wakato Hiroshi is from Prince of Tennis. Like in the series, the Uchiha family is involved with the police force.

Warnings: AU. Possibly OOC. Some pairings will come up, including Sasuke x Naruto, Achilles x Neji, Shikamaru x Temari and others.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

**Chapter 6 - Kazumi**

Kazumi gathered up the long sleeves of his robe carefully, tying the dark green cloth with its twining goldfish into smaller loops using a traditional white ribbon. His shoulder length red hair was held up with a myriad of bobby-pins criss-crossed like a headband, and he had slipped on a pair of black indoor slippers. The young Yoshinaga knew that the robes made him stand out a little bit from the other students, but he had been raised a child of the shrine and it was what he had always worn. It had definitely put him in a bit of a pickle more times than one though, and particularly every time he saw Hiroshi Wakato since the first day they met.

Kazumi had been wearing the full traditional robes on the day of his transfer into the Bell Liberty school—with the myriad of layers and the long veil that flowed down from the fixed hairpiece that nestled in his copper locks. Unfortunately his brother Inori had come to pick him up in his SUV and while Kazumi generally had no trouble reconciling the traditional with the modern—his robes had revolted on him while he tried to exit the contemporary metal monstrosity. The young Yoshinaga had closed his eyes and hoped for the best as he tumbled toward the Bell Liberty pavement—on the one hand the double sleeves of his garment were so long that he would never get his hands out in time to make a difference; but on the other hand all that cloth had to cushion his fall at least a little right?

Kazumi never met the Bell Liberty front-walk pavement though as he found himself caught awkwardly under one arm and one leg by a tall orange haired boy.

"Oops, oops, oops—watch out now then~" the smiling figure cautioned winking one bright green eye, and lowering the little redhead toward the ground. It worked out almost as uncomfortably as the original SUV exit. Kazumi's delicate veil had somehow gotten caught in the other boy's silver barrette and as the Yoshinaga's slippers reached the pavement once again he found himself stuck awkwardly on his tiptoes with his neck stuck craned to the side. The orange haired boy was cranked similarly downward to keep their now barretted heads together.

"Wah~" Kazumi made a sound of distress lifting his hands instinctively toward the problem—unfortunately the white sleeves were like mittens over his fingers. Two larger hands with sparkly pink tinted fingernails came up beside him and undid the hook on the silver barrette letting it fall where it was still caught in the side of the veil. Kazumi stumbled back as he was freed.

"Thank you…" the young Yoshinanga began staring at the charming orange haired boy that had begun to chuckle.

"Hiroshi Wakato~" the other filled in, raising his fingers into a peace sign, "And that angry guy storming out from the building behind you is Neji Hyuuga—and also my cue to make myself scarce—right then~" The other boy had already started backing away letting the peace sign slip into a mini wave at the ends of his fingers.

"But your barrette…!" Kazumi protested. The copper top Yoshinaga had sandwiched the silver piece between his sleeves where it was stuck but that was the extent of his current dexterity. Hiroshi laughed lightly and tossed his hand.

"It'll look better on a cute girl anyways~" the orange haired boy called over his shoulder. Kazumi blinked his green eyes owlishly.

It had taken him a while to figure out that the cute girl the upperclassman had been talking about was him, and by then it was really too late to find the other student, so he had decided the next time he saw the orange haired boy he would return the barrette and declare his gender. Now two years later Kazumi was walking down the hall resolutely clutching the silver barrette with its smiling skull and crossbones determined to find the upperclassman—better late than never right?

It wasn't that the young Yoshinaga hadn't seen Hiroshi around; it was just that the other boy had a way of distracting and flustering the little redhead. Once Kazumi had even gotten as far as to bring up the barrette itself, Hiroshi had replied off the cuff: "Oh yeah, you never wear it though—makes me sad~" And then the copper-top Yoshinaga had found himself wearing the silver hairpiece every day for a week straight before he remembered that, that was not the issue at hand!

Today was the day though! Kazumi padded on with renewed vigor hiking his robe up past his ankles with his free hand and power walking. The little red-head hooked the corner toward the common room sharply with Hiroshi's face still swimming in the forefront of his mind and promptly found himself falling backward as he ran headlong into a figure heading in the opposite direction. Kazumi's landed on his butt with a soft "Umphf" and the squish of the robes underneath him, the precious skull barrette flying out of his hands to skitter and clack across the common room floor. The young Yoshinaga looked up stunned for a moment to find out what had obstructed his path, and then hastily tried to throw himself forward onto his knees.

It only half worked—the robes he had already been yanking to one side as he power walked twisted into a knot around his calves and the red-head found himself with his useless appendages half under him propped up on his arms like the little mermaid. It would have to do though, because Kazumi had recognized some identifying characteristics of his obstruction.

"Uchiha!" the little Yoshinaga declared, then shook his head, "I mean, police officer! No wait!—I mean, I'm so sorry I ran into you." The redhead tried to keep his eyes lowered as demurely as possible without talking directly into the floor from his awkward position. The Uchiha just regarded him silently.

Kazumi didn't recognize the long dark haired man in front of him personally, and a second glance revealed that while the man was wearing a dark blue uniform, it wasn't actually a police uniform at all. He felt a little different from the other Uchihas Kazumi had met, too; his eyes were colder—he made the whole room colder…that or somebody left the door open again. The Yoshinaga couldn't tell for certain because the man in the not-police-uniform was still in his way.

"What are you doing here!—I mean! Is there anything I can help you with?" the little redhead inquired. Something about this man gave him a bad feeling.

"I'm looking for Ito Keita," the tall dark figure responded after a moment, and Kazumi dragged his legs up under him so that he could fold his hands properly in his lap.

"Well I don't know where he is," the young Yoshinaga told the imposing man in front of him point blank. "But even if I did—I would only tell the police!" The little redhead narrowed his eyes at the unchanging face in front of him and the silence stretched between the pair. The stand-off was broken by a gruff voice from further in the common room.

"Illumi." The deeper voice belonged to a broad shouldered man with a scar over one eye. "We can guess at where he's gone—I got the location of Sasuke's room, c'mon."

"Yes, Ibiki," the long black haired man responded and just as quickly turned on his heels leaving Kazumi where he sat. The little Yoshinaga watched him disappear down the hallway, before scrambling to try to get back on his feet. The redhead hopped around with his butt in the air, yanking at the plentiful green material twisted around his legs and then stumbled back as it came suddenly loose. He never hit the floor though, feeling himself lifted from behind and set back on his feet by a gentle pair of hands.

"What's all this then?" a familiar voice wanted to know.

"Hiroshi!" Kazumi identified turning around to face the upperclassman. The older boy was wearing a baby-T with a snickers logo on the front and his orange hair was pulled into an adorable rat tail at the back of his neck. The Yoshinaga was enchanted.

"You know rats sweat through their tails," Kazumi found himself telling the other boy before shaking his head and fisting one hand in the snickers shirt for emphasis, "No!—I mean my barrette—Wait! Your barrette…" The upperclassman reached out resting a hand in the Yoshinaga's red locks to calm him.

"Now don't you worry your pretty little head about that—I have got the barrette right here~" Hiroshi assured, sticking a hand into his khaki pocket and pulling out the silver piece he had retrieved.

"Oh, good," Kazumi breathed out, letting go of the other boy's shirt and heaving a sigh of relief. The orange haired upperclassman always looked so handsome.

"Well here, I'll just put it in for you then, shall I," the taller boy said, already reaching up to affix the skull into to copper locks.

"Oh, thank you!" the little Yoshinanga found himself saying while admiring the Snickers logo from up close.

"No problem, Cutie," Hiroshi assured with a wink, stepping back to admire his handiwork and then continuing across the hall toward the Snapdragon dorm. "Just be careful running in the hallways," the boy called over his shoulder with a wave.

"I will!" the little Yoshinaga promised, waving back at the upperclassman, and it wasn't until the orange-haired boy was long gone that Kazumi realized it had happened yet again.

"Ohhh… Shoot!" the little Yoshinaga muttered, lifting a hand to touch the barrette nested carefully in his hair and vowing that next time he saw Hiroshi Wakato he would return the hair piece and clear up the fact that he wasn't a girl once and for all!


End file.
